Necticut



G. E. WHITNEY.

PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. I9l6.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I- I Rayon/$03 11m coLuMmA I'LANOGRAI'H cm. WASHINU'I'UL n. c.

G. E. WHITNEY.

PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. 1916.

Geovge E. mziimy, EAM- r V -SHEET 3.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

5 SHEETS Invenifoz G. E. WHITNEY.

PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4. I916.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

Iii/van Qeorge E.W?a/2 i7ney, by EMMA. M W rV 1m! mmmm Pmwnummf co, WASHINGTON, [x c.

STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

GEORGE E. WHITNEY, 0F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL PAVEMENT COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CON- N ECTICUT.

PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 23, 19 19.

Application filed December 4, 1916. Serial No. 134,892.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE E. VVHrrNnY, a citizen of the United States, and a residentof Bridgeport, in the county of Fair field and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvement in Presses, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention pertains to an improvement in presses and more particularly to improvements in molding presses of the rotary moldtype. One of the principal difficulties attending the operation of such presses is to produce uniform, intermittent, partial, unidirectionalrotation of the revolving mold carrying tableor head. The principal obstacles to be overcome are the intermittent engagement of the rotary mold table by the mold table operating means and to secure accurate stoppage of the mold table during its periods of rest, so that the mold table may register accurately with the mold filling means, under which the plurality of molds carried by the mold table are usually successively brought in register.

It is among the objects of my invention to solve the diiliculties above referred to and to this end I provide certain novel mechanisms which are typified by one embodiment of a preferred construction of my invention, as shown in the drawings.

As the present invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively, to mold table operating mechanisms, I have elected to disclose my invention in connection with a type of molding press shown and described in Patent No. 1,174,212, issued March 7, 1916.

Referring to the drawings which show one illustrative embodiment of a preferred construction of my invention as applied to a molding press Figure 1 is a side elevation of a molding press;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a partial, longitudinal, vertical section thereof, partly in elevation, taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Figs. -l, 5, 6, 7 are diagrammatic views showing four positions of the preferred construction of mold table operating mechanism;

Figs. 8 through 23 illustrate a preferred construction of valve mechanism for timing and controlling intermittent rotation of the rotatable mold carrier and will be more fully described hereafter.

Referring to Figs. 1 vand 2, I preferably provide a bedplate 10 adapted to carry the molding instrumentalities and compressive instrumentalitics of the press. The compressive instrumentalities may comprise pressure fluid cylinder 11, a displacing plunger 12 and hydraulic cylinder 13 provided with a ram 1 1 and containing asnbstantial fixed amount of liquid. These compressive instrumentalities may resemble son'iew-hat the compressive instrumentalities, as'shown in my prior Patent No. 1,174,212 and need not be fully described herein.

Rising from the bedplate 10, I may and preferably do provide a column 15 on which a rotatable mold carrier or turret 16 is retatably supported. I may provide two additional columns 17 and 18 carrying a pressure receiving abutment or bulkhead 19, which may be of the same general type as that shown in ,my prior patent ,above referred to. -The relativetiming of thee-ompressive instrumentalities before described and of the mold table opcratingmcansto be hereafter,described, and of the other instrumcnta-lities of the press (not herein shown but preferably resembling somewhat thecorresponding instrumcntalities shown and dcscribed in my prior patent before referred to) may be effected by any suitable timing mechanism which may be and preferably is carriedby the timing shaft 20, which may be driven through gears 211-22 from a driving shaft 23, 011 which a pulley 24 anay be mounted, said pulley 24 being adapted to receive power from any suitable source.

I will now describe in detail a preferred construction of improved means for imparting intermittent step by step partial rota-- tion to the mold table 16, which constitutes a preferred form of mold carrier. To this end I may and preferably do provide a gear 30 rotatable with the moldtable 16 and preferably, as shown, mounted on the periphery thereof. Meshing with this mold table gear 30 I preferably provide a mold table driving gear .31 which may be and preferably is mounted on the mold table driving shaft 32 which may be, as shown,

cient movement to the mold carrier 16 to move said mold carrier through a number of degrees equal to that number of degrees between adjacent molds 36 of said mold carrier 16. In the specific embodiment of my invention herein illustrated, l have provided the mold carrier 16 with eight molds and I have provided a mold table gear in such proportions relative to the mold table driving gear 31 that one-quarter revolution of said mold table driving gear 31 will impart one-eighth of the revolution to the mold table 16. In the specific embodiment of my invention shown, this ratio is attained by making the mold table driving gear 31 one-half of the pitch diameter of the mold table driving gear 30.

I will now describe a preferred mechanism for periodically imparting -fractional intermittent rotary movement to the mold table U driving gear 31, such partial rotation being,

' in the specific embodiment of my invention disclosed, one-quarter of one revolution, whereby one-eighth of a revolution is periodically imparted to the mold carrier 16, this one-eighth revolution being the exact amount necessary to progressively present successive molds to the compressive and other cooperating instrumenta'lities. To this end I have provided the mold table driving shaft 32 with a plurality of cylinders herein shown as comprising the cylinder 10 and the cylinder 11, provided with pistons 4.-24:3 respectively, with piston rods si k-4C5 respectively and connecting rods 16%? respectively. The said cylinders 40-l1 are preferably connected to said mold table driving shaft 32, in such manner that oneor the other is always off center and hence in position on the admission of steam, to impart unidirectional rotation to said mold table driving shaft 32. 1 preferably accomplish this by arranging said cylinders &0 l1 at 90 to one another and by connecting the connecting rods &64l7 to the same crank pin 48 in the mold table driving shaft 32, this system of preventing dead center providing a stronger driving connection than by providing separate crank pins for the two cylinders 4:011.

I will next describe the diagrammatic Figs. 4-, 5, G and 7, showing in what manner the exact positioning of the mold table 16 is insured and in what manner the intermittent partial rotation of said mold table 16 is actuated. Assuming the mold table 16 to be in the position shown in Fig. it, and the pistons e2- l-3 to be in the positions shown in relation to their cylinders l0i1, if full steam pressure is admitted to the rear end of the cylinder a0 and relativelylower steam pressure is maintained in the rear end of the cylinder -11, the front ends of both the cylinders being fully exhausted to the atmosphere, the turret 16 will be held stationary, with the notch 50 pressing against the spring pressed pawl 51, which is pivoted on any suitable stationary portion of the press. The piston 42 tends to keep the crank 48 in a position shown in the drawings and a: relatively lower pressure in the rear end of the cylinder 41 tends to turn the mold table driving shaft 32 backward in such a direction as to maintain the notch 50 in the periphery of the mold table 16 against pawl 51. If now steam be admitted to'the front end of the cylinder 11 and the steam in the rear end of cylinder 10 be partially exhausted against a back pressure controlling valve, the front end of the cylinder 40 and the rear end of the cylinder %1 being fully exhausted, the mold table driving shaft 32 will be retated in a contra-clockwise direction, thereby turning the mold table 16in clockwise di-' rection until the position shown in Fig. 5 is attained. During this movement the mold positioning index pawl 51 will not have opposed the clockwise rotation of the mold table 16, but will have dragged alon the pe riphery of the mold table 16. l ow that the position illustrated in Fig. 5 has been reached, the crank 48 will be held on center by the piston 43 in the cylinder 4L1, while the indexing of the mold table will be insured by the pressure of the steam retained in the rear end of the cylinder 4E0 holding the mold table firmly against the index element 51. The movement of the mold table from the position shown in Fig. 5 to that shown in Fig. 6, is attained by admitting full steam p'ressure to the front end of the cylinder 10 while partially exhausting the front end of the cylinder 11, the rear ends of both cylinders 1041 being fully exhausted. The next movement of the mold table to the position shown in Fig. 7 is effected by admitting full steam pressure to the rear end of the cylinder 41 and partially exhausting the front end of the cylinder 40. The next movement of the mold table, completing the cycle of operation of the mold table operating means and completing one-half of one revolution of the mold table 16, the parts assuming again the relative position shown in Fig. 1, is effected by admitting full steam pressure to the rear end of the cylinder 40 and partially exhausting the rear end of the cylinder 41, the inner ends of both cylinders being fully open to the exhaust.

The valve mechanism for controlling the admission of pressure fluid to the cylinders,

for controlling the partial exhaust of pressure fluid from the cylinders, and for controlling the full exhaust of pressure fluid from the cylinders will be hereinafter fully described. The before described mechanism constitutes a preferred construction for effecting intermittent step by step, unidirectional, artial rotation of a rotary element by mechanism constantly connected to the rotary element during boththe periods of movement and of rest of the rotary element, such mechanism yielding by actuating movement of the rotary element and providing index means insuring correct indexing of the rotary element during its periods of rest. In the illustrative embodiment described, thepiston of one cylinder makes a single, complete, unidirectional stroke for each movement of the mold carrier while a reduced pressure in the other cylinder opposes excess movement of the rotary element beyond a desired position, such excess move ment being actuated by momentum of the rotary element, and in the event of momentum actuated movement of the rotary element, the piston of the second cylinder acted upon by the predetermined reduced pressure returns the rotary element until the indexing device 51 abuts against the notch 50. In practice I prefer that the rotary element be moved with sufficient speed to produce such excess momentum actuated movement at each movement of said rotary element and that suflicient pressure be maintained in the opposing cylinder to insure a return of the rotary element to indexing position after such momentum actuated excess movement has taken place.

The valve mechanism for controlling the steam pressures in thecylinders may be and preferably is actuated by and turned relative to the timing mechanism which times the operation of the compressive instrumentalities of the press and the other cooperating instrumentalities. In the illustrative embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, I have provided (see Fig. 8) an intermittent gear, herein shown as the star gear 60 provided with four slots 61-61- 61 61 adapted to be successively engaged by a roller 62 carried by an arm on the timing shaft 20, the two being adapted to cooperate in a manner similar to the well known Geneva gearing. Thus each revolution of the timing shaft 20 will impart onequarter revolution to the intermittent gear 60, such one-quarter revolution being imparted to the intermittent gear 60 during one-quarter revolution of the timing shaft 20. The valvemechanism may take the form of a rotary valve mounted on the shaft 63 of the intermittent gear 60, cooperating with a second rotary valve 64 and also cooperating with a rotary valve 65, which may be driven by the shaft 63 through equal gears 66-67. The rotary valve c4 may control the steam supply and exhaust from the cylinder l0, while the rotary valve 65 may control the steam supply and exhaust from the cylinder 11.

I will'now describe the details of the rotary valves (i l-65 and the cooperating ports and passages. Steam may be admitted to the housing of the valve from any suitable inlet typified by the inlet pipe 70. When the pistons 42-43 are in the relative positions shown in Fig. 4, the rotary valves (3 l65 are in the relative positions shown in Fig. 15, full steam being admitted to the rear end of the cylinder 40 from the inlet pipe 70 through the port 71 to the interior of one end of said rotary valve (31 and through the end of said valve and the )ipe 72 to the rear end of the cylinder 40. he rotary valve 64 is divided into two interior chambers or passages by a partition 73. The other end of the rotary valve (31 connects the front end of the cylinder $0 with the exhaust by means of a pipe 74 connected with ports 7 5 into the interior of said rotary valve 64-, the pressure fluid passing out through the port 76 to the exhaust pipe 77. At the same time the steam in the cylinder 41 is controlled by the rotary valve (35, the rear end of said cylinder 11 being connected by the pipe 7 8 to a part exhaust pipe 80, on

'which a back pressure valve of any desired construction is provided so that full exhaust is not provided but any desired back pres sure is maintained. The rotary valve 5 is divided interiorly into two chambers by a partition 83. .The front end of the cylinder 41 is exhausted through the pipe 81, leading from the front end of said cylinder 41 to the interior of the rotary valve 65 through the ports 85 and port 81 to the exhaust chamber 86 which is connected to the ex haust pipe 87. The exhaust pipe 87 preferably provides full exhaust to the atmosphere. When the intermittent gear 60 is given onequarter revolution, it will turn the rotary valve 6 1, viewed from the position shown in Fig. 20 in a contraclockwise direction and will turn the valve 65 in a clockwise direction leaving the valves in the position shown in Fig. 21. The pipe 72 will thus be connected to the partial exhaust pipe 90 through the port 71 and the passage 91. Similarly, the pipe 7-1 will be connected to the full exhaust pipe 77 through the port 76 and the exhaust passage 92. The pipe 78 will be connected by the port 82 to the full exhaust pipe 87 while the pipe 8 1 will be connected to the pressure fluid supply through the port 93.

The proper connections are thus provided to cause the pistons 42 and 43 to assume the relative positions shown in Fig. 5.

The next quarter turn of the valves leaves them in the relative position shown in Fig.

of the mold table actuating mechanism, re-

sulting in the embodiment shown in four movements of the mold table.

all times connected'to the mold table and the problems of how to effect alternate engagement and disengagement of the mold table and its actuating mechanisms is solved by the elimination of all necessity for such alternate engagement and disengagement. At the same time the problem of accurately indexing the position of the mold table during its periods of rest is solved by continuance of the engagement of the actuating mechanism with the mold table. By utilizing a single stroke of the actuating mechanism to actuate each movement of the mold table, and by timing the initiation of each such stroke from the timing mechanisms which time the cooperating instrumentalities, the movement of the mold table at the proper time is insured.

lVhile I have shown'and described my invention in connection with a moldino press,

and while my invention is primarily lntended for use in comiection with such a press,

it is obvious that the invention is of utility in connection with imparting periodic, stepby-step partial, unidirectional rotation to any heavy object in which this form of rota-.

tion is desired. It is also clear that while I have shown and described an illustrative embodiment of m invention that various.

versal of parts and even involving changes.

in mode of operation andpurposes thereof, may be made without departing from the scope of my invention.

=My invention and what I desire by Letters Patent to procure is best defined in the following claims:

1. A molding press comprising, in combination, a step by step rotatable mold table; a plurality of pressure fluid actuated pistons constantly connected thereto; cylinders for said pistons; valve means providing for control of pressure fluid admission to said cylinders and exhaust therefrom, to effect step-by-step intermittent rotation of said table, each step by step movement thereof being actuated by a single stroke of one of said pistons.

2. A molding press comprising, in combination, a step by step rotatable mold table having a gear concentric therewith; a pinion meshing with said gear; and pressure fluid means for effecting step-by-step partial ro- The actuating mechanism for the mold table is thus at tation of said pinion, thereby to impart step-by-step partial rotation to said gearand said mold table.

3. A molding press comprisingincombia nation a rotatablemo-ldtable; two cylinders having pistons operatively connected to said mold table, adapted to alternately effect unidirectional, partial rotation of said mold table with periods of rest between said intermittent, partial, unidirectional rotations.

1 A molding press comprising in combi-, nation a step by step rotatable mold table;; a cylinder operatively connected. thereto a second cylinder operatively connected thereto; and valve mechanism providing for a partial rotation of said moldtable by the piston of said first named cylinder, said 'p1S-. ton actuating one-half stroke'of the piston of said second cylinder.

5., In a molding press a combination of a, rotatable mold table; pressure fluid actuated, means therefor, comprising a pressure fluid cylinder and its pistonadapted to impart intermittent, unidirectional, partial rotation to said mold table; a second cylinder and its. piston adapted to oppose excess momentum V actuated movement of said table; and an in-- dexing pawl permitting unidirectional movement of said mold table but opposing reverse movement of said mold table beyond a predetermined point.

6. A molding press comprising in combination a rotatable mold table; anindexing pawl cooperating therewith; means for. im-

parting unidirectional rotation to said mold 100.

table; and pressure fluid means for holding said table in indexed relation to said indexe ing pawl.

7. A molding press comprising in combination a rotatablemold table; a gear concentric with said mold table and rotatable therewith; a pinion engaging said gear; a pinion shaft and crank means carried by said pinion shaft; a plurality of pressure fluid cylinders each having its piston, piston rod and connecting rod connected to saidv crank means; and valve mechanism for producing successively defined periods of full,- steam pressure, a lowered steam'pressure, and exhaust at each end of each of said cylinders.

8. A molding press comprising, in com bination, a. rotatable mold table; a plurality of pressure fluid actuating mechanisms for effecting intermittent, unidirectional, partial rotation of said mold table; valve means for said mechanisms; and valve shifting means actuated by the timing shaft of said press for controlling the starting and stopping of said mechanisms.

9. A molding ress comprising in combination a rotata le mold table; pressure fluid means for effecting intermittent, unidirectional, step by step rotation of said mold table; valve mechanism for said pres 130 sure fluid means; a timing shaft actuated independently of said fluid means and an intermittent gear actuated by a timing shaft of said press for producing intermittentshifting of said valve mechanism.

10. A molding press comprising in combination a rotatable mold table; pressure fluid means for efi'ecting intermittent, unidirectional, step by step rotation of said mold table; valve mechanism comprising a plurality of relatively timed rotary valves; gearing connecting said valves, and connections from each of said valves to a pressure fluid supply, to a back pressure valve and to n exhaust.

11. A molding press comprising in combination a rotatable mold table; pressure fluid means for effecting intermittent, unidirectional, step by step rotation of said mold table; valve mechanism comprising a plurality of relatively timed rotary valves; and connections from each of said valves to a pressure fluid supply; to a back pressure valve and to an exhaust.

12. A molding press comprising in combination a rotatable mold table; a gear concentric with and rotatable with said mold table; a plurality of mold openings in said mold table; a pinion connected to said gear; and pressure fluid means for imparting successive progressive partial rotations to said pinion for effecting intermittent, step-bystep, unidirectional rotation of said mold table.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE E. WHITNEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

